Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Looking back over my posts, it has been a long time since I have posted anything of any worth. I hit a new low recently by simply posting about my characters.

I will leave this blog and it's seven years worth of scribblings here, if only to check in on my blog roll from time to time.

I have created a new blog over at Wordpress, but I will not be posting anything there until there is something worth posting. The address is telepathicspiderpit.wordpress.com (named after an unused mini-dungeon in my abortive Persian-flavored 5e game)

Thursday, August 18, 2016

I returned to Steven's Thursday night game, which I have played in on and off since 2012. Right now we're playing RIFTS. I rolled up a Mystic, since our party is lacking in any magic and in most psi. We have a Cyber-Knight, a Wilderness Scout, a Rogue Scholar, and a Tattooed Warrior... all relatively low on the RIFTS totem pole.

Gil, my PC, is a refugee of the Coalition-Tolkeen War. He took to the roads after his village was destroyed in the crossfire of one of the battles. His sense of intuition carried him north, where he came upon a farm where the PCs are currently staying.

I spent most of the session making my character, as Palladium character creation is clunky. I did get to save an injured person from gangrene, which was kind of fun.

So far I'm playing Gil as a quiet, reserved thinking, very direct in speech to the point of being taciturn. He is so far unconcerned with money and offers his services in exchange for board.

This character is decidedly different from Big Billy Gruff and from my devious Warlock in my colleague's 5e game (which runs tomorrow.)

This RIFTS game is pretty rp heavy and there seems to be an impetus on exploring and problem solving rather than mini-nuclear wars with MD weapons. Very nice. It's good to be playing RIFTS again.

Sunday, August 14, 2016

I was invited to play in a Saturday night campaign of OneDice Urban Fantasy, set in the universe of The Wolf Among Us, which itself is based on Fables. Basically, characters from fairy tales and myths live in a hidden society in New York. The campaign is set after the events of The Wolf Among Us, with the PCs being deputized by Bigby Wolf (yes, the Big Bad Wolf, Sheriff of Fabletown) to investigate crimes while he recovers from injuries. There are three players and we elected to create our own original characters. Well, original in the sense that they do not appear in TWUA or Fables, but not original in that they have to be characters from fairy tales, nursery rhymes, etc.

Our party consists of:

William G. Gruff, aka "Big Billy" - the eldest of the Gruff brothers, Big Billy is a massive goat the size of a horse in his true form. While glamoured, he appears to be a biker guy in his mid-40's with an impressive goatee (see what I did?) and a bad attitude. He's constantly bailing his two younger brothers out of trouble. He hates trolls, and the feeling is mutual.

Deanna "Dee" Woodson- The huntsman from Snow White's tale, she's sour at having been misgendered for centuries. She dresses all in black and is quick and deadly. She's the only character of the three who doesn't require a glamour.

Bellina- Known in olden times as Thumbellina, Bellina is a hippy with powers of invisibility and fae magic. She is the stereotypical "dirty hippy," right down to placing little importance on personal hygiene. In her true form, Thumbellina is a tiny fairy.

Our GM is new to the role, but she did a pretty good job. Our session was relatively short and heavy on investigation, much like TWAU is primarily focused around investigation. Unfortunately, nobody in the party has Investigation as a skill and only one PC put any points in Notice, so we'll be spending a lot of Stunt Points on those kinds of rolls, methinks.

My character sheet:

William G. Gruff aka "Big Billy"

Strong 4 Clever 1 Quick 2 Magic 1

Health: 12 Defense: 12 Armor: 0 Magic Defense: 3 Movement: 20

Skills: Bruiser 2, Dodgy 2, Drive 1, Intimidate 1, Occult Lore 1 *

Supernatural Abilities: Speak With Animals, Stronger

Weaknesses: None

Equipment: Beat-up but tough chopper, leather jacket

*The GM has given every character 1 free point in Occult Lore to represent the Fables being generally familiar with one another's stories and exploits from back home.

This campaign looks to be a lot of fun.

In other news, I have rejoined my old Thursday group, the one that I used to play RIFTS and Beyond the Supernatural with. Currently they're playing a RIFTS game, so I'll be rolling up a character for this week. I'm thinking Juicer, because why the hell not?

Monday, August 1, 2016

There comes a time when every OSR gamer asks themselves, "How many different highly nuanced/idiosyncratic reiterations of D&D do I really need?" In that regard, I think I am going to make a real endeavor for Seven Voyages of Zylarthen to be my last one. This has nothing to do with the content of Zylarthen, but between it and.... let's see... Labyrinth Lord, OSRIC, Swords & Wizardry (Complete and White Box), Lamentations of the Flame Princess, Ruins & Ronin, Beyond the Wall, Mazes & Perils, and probably a couple I'm forgetting.

Now, we'll see how much resolve I can actually muster to stick to it. My new job and new responsibilities might actually help me curtail my collector's tendencies, since I won't really have time to do much but run one game at a time.